Two-weeks ago a crane collapsed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca killing at least 87 and injuring another 150 worshippers inside the Grand Mosque.

Thursday at least 453 people taking part in the great pilgrimage or Hajj at Mina, about 5km (3 miles) from Mecca, died during a stampede. Another 400 plus sustained injuries. The latest number of injured is 719!

This is not the first time the great pilgrimage has experienced deaths. The last significant incident was in 2006 and since then Saudi Arabian authorities have tried to improve safety.

But with an estimated 2.5million plus people taking part good health and safety practices are not easy to apply.

For Muslims a visit to Mecca to take part in Hajj is not just a dream; Muslims will take part in Hajj by visiting Mecca at least once in their lifetime.

This means that among the crowds of the faithful there are many elderly and vulnerable people.

Some 3,000 people have died in incidents at the hajj in the last 20 years in stampedes, demonstrations, and fires at pilgrim camping areas and one person was killed when a bomb exploded near Mecca's Grand Mosque in 1989. The worst incident in modern times was in 1990 when a stampede at a tunnel in Mecca killed 1,426 pilgrims, many of them Malaysians, Indonesian and Pakistanis. The pilgrims were killed in in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy sites in Mecca, where pilgrims go through a series of rituals on the hajj and travel from all over the world to attend.

The death toll Thursday could rise further. Those killed and injured are from various countries and nationalities.

There has been a massive emergency response to Thursday's tragedy; it involves 4,000 rescue workers and 220 ambulances.Thursday evening BST latestThe death toll is now at least 717 with 863 injuries recorded. A Saudi Prince has blamed the stampede on visiting pilgrims from Africa.

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